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Innovative home ownership models in Australia

Access to secure and affordable housing is increasingly unavailable for many Australian households, with high purchase prices, high rental prices, lack of dwelling diversity, low-quality design, and poor construction. Innovative models of accessing secure, affordable, and sustainable housing have emerged in Australia in recent years. 

This research will provide a taxonomy of emergent innovative homeownership models in Australia. The taxonomy will draw on previous work which examined variables in collective self-organised housing in London, Berlin, and Melbourne, and will increase policy and public understanding of the models, including their distinct ambitions, successes, and needs. Ultimately, this can inform the development of policies to up-scale models and the modification of existing policies which (unintentionally) constrain innovation. Secondly, the research aims to understand the market segments attracted to these emergent innovative models, including their housing and lifestyle aspirations.

This scoping project will review academic and grey literature and draw on multiple sources of primary data to produce an inventory of the models, the type and number of dwellings completed, underway, and proposed; examine which types of households are expressing aspirations to join one these models; and examine the relationship between emergent models and current policy.

In conclusion, the scoping project will provide direction for future research to develop a body of literature on alternative forms of homeownership, suggesting possible points of policy intervention for policymakers.

Lead Researcher: Dr Jasmine Palmer, RMIT University

Project Number: 53249